Australian soccer’s top referees have gone on strike in an extraordinary escalation of a long-running dispute with Football Australia, forcing officials to consider flying in overseas referees for next week’s Australia Cup semi-final and threatening disruption to the new A-Leagues season.
Members of the Professional Football Referees Association (PFRA) say they will refuse appointments for upcoming Australia Cup, Australian Championship and pre-season trial matches involving A-League men’s and women’s teams until a bitter stand-off over their employment status is settled.
Their issue is not about pay, but predominantly about who they are employed by. The PFRA says FA has proposed a structure that would place referees in an “unacceptable position” of potential conflict and raise serious questions about the independence and integrity of the refereeing program.
The structure favoured by FA would see match officials contracted by FA to work in competitions run by them – including the Australia Cup and second-tier Australian Championship – and then contracted separately by the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) for A-Leagues matches.
But the PFRA says direct contracting of referees by the league body would create a serious conflict of interest, since the APL is run by the clubs and governed by a board which includes club representatives.
Despite talks between the referees and FA to resolve the impasse, PFRA president Evgeny Vizelman said on Friday afternoon the organisation’s members had little option but to withdraw their services.
“We do not take the decision to stop officiating matches lightly. Our members want to officiate football, prepare for the upcoming season and positively contribute to the success of football in Australia,” he said.
“Nobody becomes a referee because they want to withdraw their services. These are people who love football and have dedicated an enormous part of their lives to the game. Taking ourselves off the field hurts. There comes a point where people have to stand together and say the way they are being treated is not good enough.
“Our preference has always been to resolve these matters constructively. Our referees are being asked to perform in one of the most scrutinised roles in Australian sport without basic certainty around their employment and, in some cases, without even being paid for work already completed. That is not acceptable.”
A spokesperson for FA said the organisation was in “constructive disalogue” with referees and the APL, but made no suggestion that the “interim arrangements” proposed would be altered.
“Fans and clubs can be assured that all upcoming Australia Cup and Australian Championship fixtures will proceed as scheduled,” said the FA spokesperson. “The new model aligns with FIFA governance principles and is designed to ensure the integrity of the game and guaranteeing that no match official will be financially worse off.”
APL chief executive Steve Rosich said it was a matter for FA to work through.
“We’re proactively working with FA on a long-term, joint venture in respect to referees for the future, but this is not in place at this point in time,” he said.
Sources familiar with the situation say that FA is considering flying in a referee from another country to oversee Wednesday night’s Australia Cup semi-final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory. The other semi-final, in which Lions FC will host South Melbourne in Brisbane, takes place on September 15.
Which administrative body should bear the costs and responsibilities associated with referees has been a major bone of contention between FA and APL since the A-League’s separation from the national governing body six years ago, during which time they have been employed by FA.
In May, FA and the APL announced they had reached a financial settlement over longstanding “legacy issues”, which included a commitment to establishing a separate entity to employ and manage match officials – similar to how Professional Game Referees, otherwise known as PGMOL, supplies referees for all competitions played in England.
Such a structure would satisfy the PFRA and broadly align Australia with the model used in major football leagues overseas, but for reasons unknown, it has not come to pass. The PFRA says it was subsequently told an independent model was off the table, at least for now.
In the meantime, contracts of the approximately 90 elite match officials who adjudicate top-level football in Australia have expired, and some of them are owed money for recent trial matches involving A-League teams, the PFRA says.
The referees also say they have no idea if they will be considered employees, contractors or something else under the arrangements put forward by FA because they have seen no relevant documentation.
The PFRA wants all previous contracts extended on their existing terms until June 30 next year, or until a new agreement or independent refereeing body is established, and for all all outstanding match fees and expenses to be paid.
There could be more unrest on the horizon for Australian soccer. A new collective bargaining agreement for the A-Leagues has still not been struck between the APL and Professional Footballers Australia. With the previous CBA having expired, players are also in a position to take industrial action at any time should they vote to do so. The new season kicks off on October 16.
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